Save the Day

I pulled Nick inside, “What? Who is he and what does he know?” I asked urgently.

He dropped his duffle bag on the floor and rubbed his face. “Joe, he knows about… us.”

“Wh-what?” I stammered and pushed past him as I began to pace.

“Joe, he –”

“I know what you said!” I snapped. I took a deep breath before speaking again, “How?” I asked more calmly, but I continued to pace.

“He came back to the green room to get the magazine that he left. That’s when he saw you sitting on my lap as we, in his words, ‘ate each other’s faces off’.” Nick answered as he sat on the couch.

“Are you kidding me!? And what’d he do then? Kick you off your bus?”

“Basically, but my parents and your uncle think I’m working on a new song.”

“That doesn’t matter Nick! Joe has no right to kick you off the bus.” I said and started to walk towards the door.

“Where are you going?” Nick asked, alert.

“To give that hypocrite a piece of my mind.” I seethed. If anyone ‘ate someone’s face off’, it was him.

“Oh no you don’t,” Nick said, grabbing my elbow.

“Why not? He can’t just do that to you!”

“You’re only going to make the situation worse Morgan, if you talk to him now. Give him time to cool down a little.”

“I don’t think I can make it any worse. And I’m done waiting for his whiney ass to get over everything. I’m tired of trying to top toe around him all the time. If I got over it, so can he.” I said, tearing my arm out of Nick’s grasp and continued to the door just as the bus began to move. “Of fucking course.” I hissed and punched the side of the bus with as much force as I could muster.

“Morgan!” Nick exclaimed rushing over to make sure my hand was okay. He grabbed it gently and brushed his thumb across my throbbing knuckles. “We can figure it all out tomorrow. It’s better that way.”

I scoffed, pulled my hand away, and walked away from him without a word. I snatched my phone from my bunk and began frantically punching the numbers.

“Morgan, what are you doing?” I head Nick ask.

“I’m going to find out what the fuck his problem is.” I hissed, dialing the last numbers and bringing the phone to my ear as I walked into the recording booth, locking the door behind me.

“Morgan, don’t; you’re only –” Nick said frantically into the microphone on the other side of the glass. I didn’t hear the rest of his sentence because I turned it off.

The phone was answered on the third ring. “How dare you kick your brother off the bus! You have no right to punish him because you hate me Joseph!” I yelled into the phone before he got a word in.

“Morgan, this isn’t Joe.” Kevin’s voice flowed through the phone.

“Kevin! Why are you answering Joe’s phone?”

“So neither of you say anything else that you’ll both regret later. I get that you’re pissed, but right now isn’t the best time to yell at him.”

“Why not? He kicked his own brother off the bus!”

“Because he’s upset. He thinks you left him for Nick, Morgan.” Kevin said softly.

“What? But – but I didn’t.”

“Well he doesn’t think so. I mean, it looks like it. Think about it. You break up with Joe and then two weeks later he finds you kissing Nick; it’s pretty incriminating.”

“This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen! This is why we didn’t tell anyone!” I yelled, exasperated.

“Didn’t tell anyone? Morgan, how long has this been going on?”

“Um…” I mumbled. “About a week and a half.”

“A week and a half! Morgan –”

I cut him off, “Look Kevin, I knew you’re going to yell at me. It’s not like we meant for it to happen; it just did. But, this – being with Nick – has been one of the happiest times in my life Kevin, so I don’t regret it at all.”

“Tell that whore that I never want to talk to her slutty little mouth anymore.” I heard Joe say.

“Joe!” Kevin hissed.

“What? She deserves it!”

“You know what Kevin, tell that dick that I wouldn’t want to talk to him anyway.” I yelled and hung up quickly. Emotions swirled inside me – anger, frustration, sadness, hatred – and they poured out rapidly.

I took my phone and threw it against the bus with all my force, which broke it into little pieces, and collapsed to the floor; tears streaming down my face. Faintly, I heard Nick screaming my name and banging on the door, trying to get it to open. The only thing I really could here was in my head and it kept repeating:

Whore.

He called me a whore. He thought I was a slut. He thought I was a heartless bitch. He hated me. And I hated him. I’m not one to hate a person – the only other person I hate is my father and even my feelings about that waver – but I purely utterly hate Joseph Adam Jonas.

The tears that rolled down my face weren’t tears of sadness; they were tears of hurt and betrayal. I trusted Joe. I trusted him not to be like everyone in my past, but he is. He’s like every bullshit person who fed me bullshit lies about how they’ll never hurt me. This just made me cry harder.

The door shot open, slamming against the wall, Nick’s arms immediately wrapping around me as he fell to the floor. “Shh,” He whispered into my ear. He pulled me onto his lap and began to rock me gently back and forth.

“I hate him.” I whimpered.

“No you don’t.” He said as he stroked my hair. “You just really dislike him right now.”

“No Nick, I hate him. I hate him with every fiber of my being.” I said, lifting my head up to look at him, whipping the tears away from my face. “He called me a whore.”

I saw the anger flash on Nick’s face as his grip tightened on me, but he remained calm. “Why? What happened?” He asked.

“Kevin answered the phone and told me how Joe was really upset. He thinks I think him for you, which is partially true but he doesn’t know that. Anyway, I told Kevin that this was why we didn’t want to tell anyone. And then I told him how long we’ve been dating and he kinda yelled it. Then, I hear Joe in the background telling Kevin that…” I said and took a deep breath before I continued. “He told Kevin ‘tell that whore I never want to talk to her slutty little mouth again’. I called him a dick, hung up, and threw my phone against the wall.” I finished, nodding to the destroyed phone on the ground.

“Wow, you really killed it.” Nick said before looking down at me. “At least I know what to get you for a present now.”

A soft laugh reluctantly fell from my mouth and I shoved Nick playfully. “Stop that.”

“What?” He asked, smiling down at me.

“Knowing what to say to make me feel better. Knowing how to save me.”

“Now that,” He said and wrapped his arms tighter around me. “I can’t do. I’ll always try to save you.”

I placed my head of his chest, “Good, ‘cause I’m sick of doing it myself.”

Nick placed his chin atop my head, “It’s going to get better Morgan. Everything gets worse before it gets better.”

I sighed, “Well, it better not get any worse.”

He laughed, “It won’t.”

I smiled and snuggled closer to him, closing my eyes. I fell asleep to the calming sound of Nick’s heartbeat – the one thing that kept me going.